E9: Lake Garda (Sirmione) 25th April

 

We arrived at Desenzanos shortly before midday and checked in to the Sosta.  This is the first one that we have paid for and at €12 for 24 hours, it is located by the lake, fully serviced and conveniently placed for visiting the local area (particularly by bike as cycle route opposite).  

 

SIRMIONE

This is barely more than a village in size located on a narrow promotory which extends 4 km into the lake from the South shore.  Unfortunately it strains under the pressure of tourism (particularly on an Italian Bank Holiday as we discovered!).  The highlight is the 13th century fairy tale boxy turreted towered castle almost completed surrounded by water next to the only access into Sirmione, a fortified bridge.

 

Once past the castle the rest of the village consists of a few Piazza’s dissected by a very narrow main street packed with tourist shops, cafes and ice cream parlours 

Italian’s really, really love their ice cream!  Some of the cones were large enough to feed a small army….

The choice of ice cream is astounding, look for ‘Produzione Propria’ signs and this indicates freshly made on the premises….

well what did you expect?  I just had to continue my Italian ice cream research!

If all the busy streets get too much for you there are quieter spots to the North of the village centre like the simple hut like church of San Pietro with it’s 13th century frescoes inside

 

On the tip of the islet are the remains of a 1st century Roman villa but at this point we were running out of steam so did not go inside.

After all this we battled our way back through the heaving crowds and gridlocked traffic.  I should add that the visibility was quite poor so I have not included any photo’s of the lake views.